Youzhny the head case has the talent and the record to worry Nadal

Rafael Nadal was probably far too busy watching the football last night to bother surfing the internet to find out more about Mikhail Youzhny, his fourth-round opponent today.

Had he gone online, however, the first thing Nadal would have seen would have been endless YouTube re-runs of the Russian's extraordinary meltdown at this year's Sony Ericsson Open in Miami. There Youzhny became so furious with himself after losing a point to Nicolas Almagro that he repeatedly smashed his racket against his head, causing so much blood to spill out that the match, which he went on to win, had to be stopped in order for him to receive medical treatment.

However, there is other footage of Youzhny available and it shows him humiliating Nadal on a medium-paced hard court in Chennai at the start of this year. The Russian inflicted a 6-0, 6-1 defeat on the world No2 that sent shockwaves well beyond the virtual world.

Nadal, famed for his obstinacy and gumption, does not usually lose matches that way. But Youzhny knows how to beat him and that gives today's meeting between them in Wimbledon's last 16 a pinch of extra pepper. The two men have played 10 times, with Nadal scraping through their only meeting on grass, at Wimbledon last year, in five sets. Nadal leads the head-to-head by six games to four but Youzhny knocked him out of the US Open two years ago, again in five sets.

It is that astonishing defeat in Chennai, though, which must send a chill down Nadal's spine, if only because, in terms of games won, it was the worst defeat of his career. The long semi-final he played the night before was a mitigating factor but it was still a real beating, during which Youzhny showed that he has none of the trouble Roger Federer experiences when returning Nadal's tricky, spinning, left-handed serve.

This is the fifth time Youzhny has reached the fourth round at Wimbledon and, though he went on to make the semi-finals of the US Open in 2006, the year he beat Nadal, there is a consistency about his results at Wimbledon which suggests it is the major which best suits his game. He serves with power and poise and his elegant one-handed backhand, which might have been borrowed from the former women's world No1 Justine Henin, was near its best in Saturday's third-round win over Radek Stepanek.

Youzhny is also one of the few players who can match Nadal for stubbornness on court, so those planning to sit on Court No1 today had better pack extra sandwiches. The Russian has come through two five-setters this week - against Stefano Galvani and then Stepanek - and achieved his greatest feat by coming from two sets down in a decisive fifth rubber against Paul-Henri Mathieu of France to win Russia the 2002 Davis Cup.

Nadal's draw here might as well have been made by Federer, for the Spaniard's path has been littered with obstacles - all of which he has hurdled comfortably. His victory at Queen's Club seems to have given him a degree of confidence that was absent even as he made the final in the last two years and he has played exceptionally well in successive matches, against the talented 19-year-old Ernests Gulbis and Nicolas Kiefer. He will, however, need to draw all he can from those wins and play even better against Youzhny. Otherwise the Russian will have another YouTube moment to savour.